Now and Then The Whole Story
by Josie Rainbow
Summary: I always wondered how Sam, Teeny, Chrissy and Roberta became friends... this is not just the summer of 1970... but the years before that and the years after that as well. Rated M for Later Chapters... chap 1 revised please R
1. In the Beginning

Chapter 1: In the beginning.

Disclaimer: I Do NOT own Now and Then, I just own my ideas and this story.

_May 1958:_

"Darling this is a beautiful town, but are you sure you want to move here? Surely New York was much better for you, where are you going to work?"

"Mary, you know that I have already dealt with that… and quite honestly I would prefer living here, I grew up in the city, with so many rich snobs, and I don't want our baby to go through that either."

"Christina isn't even born yet."

"Well then how do you know our baby is a Christina? It could be a Christopher."

"I know in my heart that we'll have a girl. So if we move here, we have to find a good ballet school and good local families with daughters.

"Ok then; _she _(if she is a she) can live here her whole life."

So that was that, a young wealthy family called DeWitt moved into town. They met a few of the locals; the three families they met either had infant daughters or were pregnant. Mary decided that she didn't want her unborn daughter socialising with all of them. But considering they practically lived next door, she didn't know how she could prevent it. The only family Mary thought was good enough to socialise with her daughter were the Martin's They had three sons aged 5, 3 and 2, they also had a little daughter, Roberta after her father, Robert. Catherine was her mother. The mother taught, part time at the local school. Next were the Albertson's, they too, had recently been married, and also had a little daughter, her name was Samantha. The Albertson's had been in Shelby, since Shelby had been founded, they had been originally farmers, and one of the Country roads leading into Shelby was Albertson Street.

The last family they met was the Tercell's. Mary didn't like them at all; she believed them to be bad society, because of the fact that they probably would not spend much time with their baby when it was born. They didn't know what they were going to have but they decided that if it was going to be a girl it would be either Tina or Marilyn, and if it was a boy Charles or Donald.

One month later Christina was born, and a fortnight after that the Tercell's also had a baby girl, who they called Tina. Mary refused to speak to them for weeks, because their daughter's name was so similar to theirs.

_4 Years Later._

"Come on, Christina, it's time to go to Pre-School." (A/N: I may be Australian, but this is an American Movie so I will use all of the Americanisms).

"Mommy, I don't want to go"

"Yes, you do… and besides I want you to make more friends"

"Why? Don't you like Roberta, Samantha and Teeny?"

"Teeny?"

"Yeah, Tina, we thought that her name sounded too much like mine, so now I'm Chrissy, and she's Teeny. Plus she's the teeniest one of us."

"Hmmm. Ok, but remember, I don't like Teeny's mother, so I don't want you to play with her… oh and when I pick you up later, you have another lesson at the dancing school.

"Ok, Mommy"

"Bye, Darling"

"Bye-bye, Mommy"

Chrissy didn't make different friends there; she met up with Roberta right away, Samantha was late, and Teeny's mother was slow at getting her ready, so she was even later.

_At the Dancing School_

"Ok, children, we have a new student today. Her name is Tina Tercell; her Mommy wants her to be famous."

"Teeny, Over here"

"Hello, Chrissy"

"Hey… Mrs Brooks, I can look after Tina if you want, we know each other already, and we are already really good friends"

"Ok, I was just about to suggest that."

"Chrissy, how long have you been dancing? You're really good."

"Thanks, I have been dancing since I was three, Mommy used to dance, ballet mostly she went to the American Ballet Theatre, and if I get better at this little kids ballet, I'll go on to real ballet."

"Wow. Your Mommy is so cool."

"Thanks, now we need to get back to dancing."

_Two Weeks Later_

"Mommy, will you take me to Chrissy's? I want to show her my new dolly."

"Ok, Bertie, I have to go out afterwards, Daddy will pick you up, alright?"

"Where are you going?"

"I'm teaching in Greenfield, a class for grown-ups, I will get back after you have gone to bed, Ok?"

"Ok, bye Mommy; Hello Chrissy, Hello Mrs DeWitt"

"Hello Roberta, would you like a drink of Lemonade?"

"Yes, Please, Mrs DeWitt"

_An Hour Later_

"Hello Mary, is Roberta still here? Catherine said that I was to pick her up for dinner."

"Yes, she's still here, I will get her, ok?"

"Roberta, your Daddy's here, its time to go home, ok?"

"Awwwww, Ok, bye Chrissy."

"Bye-bye Roberta"

"Hello Daddy, is it Dinner time already?"

"Yes, its almost 6:00"

This was the night that Catherine Martin was in a car accident and was pinned in the vehicle for an hour and a half before the ambulance officers were able to get her out of it. She died in the night at the local hospital due to massive head injuries and severe internal bleeding. Robert Martin awoke from sleep when the phone rang at 1:00 in the morning.

"Hello, Martin residence, Robert Martin speaking"

"Hello, I am one of the doctors at the local hospital; I have some bad news for you, we believe your wife has passed away after being in a car accident. Would you please come in to the hospital to identify her?"

"Ok, well what about my children? I don't think it's very fair to wake up to come to a hospital, even if their mother has died."

"You're right, do you know of anyone who would be willing to watch them?"

"I'll ring some people and ask if they can watch them."

"Ok, Goodbye Mr Martin"

Robert rang his parents, but they were not home, then he tried Catherine's parents, but they said that they couldn't make it because they had to get ready to travel to Washington on business. Having rung everyone he could possibly think of. He thought of Roberta's and her brothers' friends, who might be able to look after them. The boys were able to stay overnight at their friends house, but Roberta wasn't able to. He decided to take her with him. She could sleep at the hospital while they were waiting. So after the boys had gone to their friends' houses. He got Roberta into the car, and they drove to the hospital. She slept the whole time. It was confirmed that it was Catherine who had died.

When the got home she woke up and asked her daddy what was wrong. He looked at her and said that a beautiful angel swooped down to earth and carried Mommy away, before she had a second to feel any pain.

_Next Day: At Pre-School_

The teacher was doing a Roll-Call and was up to "M"

"Roberta Martin?" Expecting a "Yes, I'm here" and not getting one the teacher called again: Roberta Martin?" The teacher still didn't get an answer. So she turned to her friends: Samantha Albertson, Christina DeWitt and Tina Tercell.

"Girls, do you know where your friend Roberta is? She never misses a day of pre-school."

Samantha replied "No, we don't know what happened to her; all we know is that our mommies got important telephone calls from her daddy late last night."

"Ok, thank you Samantha".

"That's ok."

All day the little girls wondered where Roberta was. She didn't come that day, or the next, or the next after that, eventually they got really worried about their friend and asked their mommies to ring her daddy. After the phone call, each mommy sat down with their little girl to explain the bad news.

_Chrissy's House_

"So you mean she wont be coming back to pre-school for a while, mommy?"

"No, not for a while, but she will be back soon, and then we're going to go to her mommy's funeral."

"What's a funeral?"

"Don't you remember, we went to one for your grandmother, last year"

"Oh, in the church, and then we went to the cemetery."

"Yes that's right."


	2. Growing up a bit

Chapter 2: Growing up… a bit.

Disclaimer: I Do NOT own Now and Then, I just own my ideas and this story.

About two weeks after Catherine's funeral, Roberta returned to pre-school a little subdued and disruptive. Her teacher ended up ringing Roberta's father.

"Bertie, I know you miss Mommy, but you cant be disrupting the class, Ok, you behave now, or the teacher will put you into another Time Out."

"But Daddy, No one understands how I feel, not even you!"

"Honey, that's not true, I understand how you feel, and I miss Mommy too and so do your brothers, they miss Mommy too."

"Alright Daddy."

_Two Years Later_

(A/N: I guessed that Sam would have been about six when Angela was born, because Angela looked about six in the movie)

"Hey you guys, guess what! My mommy's going to have a baby." 

"Really that's so cool, you're going to be a big sister"

"Yeah, Roberta, isn't it great? What is it like having brothers?"

"They're a pain and they're mean, but still they let me play with their cars and tools and things that they had when they were little. I lost the dolly that Mommy gave me before she died. I wish I knew where it was…"

_Nine Months Later_

The Albertson's now had another little daughter, whom they called Angela, because she was an angel to them and helped them stop fighting for a bit. Samantha and her friends were constantly trying to play with the new baby, and they were a little upset when every time they went near it, it cried, then to make matters worse, they were getting into trouble for upsetting Angela.

"We're sorry Mrs. Albertson, we didn't mean it." 

"Yeah, Teeny's telling the truth Mommy, we didn't mean it"

"Well, You four run along and go play outside and leave poor Angela alone."

"Ok."

_Six Years Later - The Summer of 1970_

(A/N: this will be brief, because you know how the movie goes)

With all the Sex talks and Séances, the four girls were getting up to some mischief. Teeny and Chrissy had stopped going to Ballet ages ago, and as a result Chrissy had put on some weight. Secretly she was hoping no one would notice, but Teeny did. 

_Doing the first séance in the movie._

"It's so cold out here!" Complained Chrissy.

Thankful she'd thought to wear layers, Roberta handed Chrissy her shirt. 

"Here, take my shirt. Now I'll be cold, but maybe you'll shut up!"

Putting it on, Chrissy says "It makes me look fat."

"You are fat!" Teeny had just said the one thing that had been bothering Chrissy for weeks now.

Denying it, Chrissy growled. "I am NOT fat." Then to Roberta, just to calm her doubts, "Am I fat?" Roberta shakes her head. 

Although Roberta did not say that she was fat, Chrissy thought "well you probably think I am too, and so does Sam" and she let it play on her mind - "You are fat!" she just didn't know what to do. She did in fact receive what she thought to be a confirmation that Sam thought she was fat a couple of days when they had stopped off for a break on the way to Greenfield. They were stealing the Wormer's clothes and Sam, and Roberta for that matter, said that she had better get ready to make a mad dash and that she had better start now.

Chrissy just knew she had to go on a diet, but how? Her favourite foods were Pudding and Twinkies.

While Chrissy was concerned with her weight, Roberta on the other hand was trying to deal with her adolescence without her mother, she didn't know what to do, she couldn't ask her Dad for advice or pads or anything like that because he wouldn't have a clue. She couldn't go to Teeny's mother because, she didn't really know Teeny's mother. There was no way she was going to Chrissy's mother, because she was misinforming Chrissy and making Chrissy make a fool of herself so that Chrissy had to go to her friends for the advice. It really was a nightmare trying to figure out where Chrissy's mother had lied to Chrissy and undo the damage. Sam's mother, well that would just be too embarrassing, what happens if Sam walked in and saw Roberta asking _her_ mother for advice. So, secretly she was going to her local doctor, which, thankfully was a female doctor. Roberta knew what she wanted to be when she grew up, a doctor.

Sam was desperately trying to keep secret the fact that her parents had split up and were preparing for divorce. She hated her Mom's new boyfriend, Bud, or "Bug" as she had mistakenly called him on the first time she saw him. That night, after she had left her mother's first date with him, she confided in Teeny, who had broken her beaded necklace just to make friendship bracelets for the two of them. Riding home on her bike, it fell off and slid down into the drain. She climbed down to get it, but it started to pour with rain and she couldn't get out. If it hadn't have been for "Crazy Pete" she would have drowned. Teeny took her home, and her mother insisted on calling the doctor to make sure she was ok.

The next day in the local newspaper, there was an article about "Crazy Pete" saying how the previous night someone had witness him save a young girl's life and that she and her friend returned home safely. It stated "Neither the 12 year old nor her family had not come forward for comment. We are still trying to find out who this young girl is, but rumours are that she goes by the name of 'Sam'."

The next night, while they were leaving after had given up on the séances, they saw him enter the cemetery. Teeny and Sam told the others to "just leave him alone". Chrissy and Roberta had read the paper that morning, and they now knew who Pete had saved from drowning - their Sam, however they didn't say anything. 

Sam went back to Pete and thanked him for what he had done for her.

Teeny was still dreaming about acting, but she had a long way to go. In the coming year she would put her name down for drama class at school. She thought of nothing but boys and acting. It annoyed her that all of her friends were developing into young women, but that she still had the body of a child, how was she supposed to prove that she was just as desirable as they were. Pudding in balloons stuffed into her bra that she'd insisted her mother buy for her (even though she didn't need it) were what she had thought of so far.

Part way through the summer, Roberta had, with Scott Wormer, had her first kiss. She didn't think much of it, but the next day when she saw him, she felt something there, in her stomach. Her friends noticed that while his brothers were being as obnoxious as usual, he was being a gentleman. To Roberta that is, not really to the rest of them, but she was not going to say anything to them, they'd reject her for a while.

As it stood the summer was a blast. They'd educated Chrissy on Sex, found out that "Crazy Pete" was not "crazy" at all, just a very lonely old man, opened up about some of their problems, and most of all, they'd been there for each other when they had been needed.


End file.
